17 Nis 2012

manuel nunez....

Art Brokerage specializes in the artwork of Manuel Nunez. Born in 1956
Artist Manuel Nunez: "My images are of strong women," Nunez says.
"Beautiful, but not exploited. Women who are sensual and virtuous;
wrestling with the underlying conflict of what life is versus what it
should be." Nunez describes the symbolism in his work in the words of a
biblical scholar. Not firebrand, but a gentle imparting of the tenets of
his belief. Almost every stroke is alive with the artist's own faith
and the objects which serve to keep that spirit always in his sight.
Manuel Nun±ez was born in 1956, into a family versed in the arts and
Latino culture. His father, Manuel Nunez Sr., was a well known singer
and song writer who recorded nine Spanish-language albums in the 1950's.
"I listen to his music all of the time, but it's only now that I really
appreciate his music and what he was doing with it." It could be said
that in this atmosphere, the spirituality which shaped his creativity
was upon the artist from his first breath. As he grew, it was then only a
short leap of logic to jump from an exploration of his creative spirit
to his human spirituality. It was a larger leap to then explore his way
back from his religious roots to his art. Yet in that very transcendence
is the brilliance in which the art of NuÃ±ez resides. The use of his
trademark - a hand-applied 23-karat gold leaf - is indicative of the
spiritual roots of the artist and its interpolation into his work. "The
gold itself is a dichotomy," he explains. "Gold can, at the same time,
symbolize decadence or indulgence and the righteous purity shown in
Russian icon art." In Nunez work, these disparate elements reign in
conjunction with each other, as does the feminine mystique which
combines virtue and sensuality - love and lust coexisting within the
compositional expression as they cohabit the body and soul in life.
Manuel NuÃ±ez has taught at both the Otis Parsons Institute in Los
Angeles, and The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California,
which he also attended.